Passengers asked to fix train

Passengers on a broken-down train were shocked when they were asked if they could fix it.

The London to Manchester Virgin train was halted at Rugby station in Warwickshire when a windscreen wiper broke.

The train manageress pleaded over the tannoy for any passengers with nuts, bolts or cable ties to go to the front of the carriage.

Four men stepped forward to help, reports The Sun.

One of them, Damian Gaskin said: "It was unbelievable. I had a few basic tools with me so I went to help. One man had a foot on the platform with his other stretched across the windscreen.

"He was straddling the train. he told me he was a passenger and fixed the electrics on a service the week before."

A Virgin spokesman said: "After several repair attempts passengers got off the train and boarded a later service."

Man loses 16 stone - on Oxo cubes

A Cornwall man has lost 16 stone in a year on a diet of Oxo cubes.

Stephen Kay, 39, swapped fry-ups, pies, pasties and pints of lager for three bowls of hot broth a day.

The dad-of-three, who is 6ft 2ins, weighed 31.5 stone, reports the Daily Mirror.

He devised with his own diet made up of Oxo stock cubes, topped up with fruit and vegetables.

Within 12 months he had slimmed down to 15.2 stone and lost two foot off his waist as his belt size shrank from 60 to 36.

Stonemason Stephen said: "I'd read all the weight loss magazines and watched all the TV programmes - but I hate salads.

"I remember my grandfather eating hot Oxo broth soaked up by wholemeal bread so I went for that."

Stephen decided to fight the fat after constant pestering from wife Caroline and children Gary, 21, Claire, 14 and Jack, 11.

Caroline makes her husband's filling broths three times a day using two stock cubes, hot water and pepper. She also gives him three slices of wholemeal bread.

The 42-year-old part-time cleaner said: "This diet has totally transformed him. He used to get tired easily and spend all his time on the sofa. Now he is out playing badminton."

Japanese champ to defend burger title

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee - Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi will try to defend his title in a Tennessee hamburger-eating contest in which he is undefeated. He is among 13 finalists that are going to Chattanooga, headquarters of fast-food chain Krystal Co., to eat as many small, square hamburgers as they can in eight minutes. Kobayashi took the title in the contest's first year in 2004 and again in 2005.

Last year, Kobayashi swallowed 67 hamburgers to win the title and a check for $10,000.

The eating machine from Nagano fended off San Diego State University engineering student Joey Chestnut, who was tied with Kobayashi at 60 Krystals with 37 seconds left.

Chestnut finished with only 62, but he will return to challenge Kobayashi this year.

Now a project engineer living in San Jose, California, Chestnut said he has been training for the finals using frozen Krystal burgers because there are not any locations in California.

The 172-pound Kobayashi finished 69 Krystals during the first contest in 2004.

Kobayashi also holds the title of hot dog-eating champion, after eating 49 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest at Coney Island, New York.

Krystal, the oldest fast-food chain in the South, holds two-minute qualifying rounds in eight Southern U.S. cities in the months leading up to the championship.

The average person can eat four to six Krystal burgers in two minutes; Chestnut ate 28.

The Krystal finals are governed by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Founded by brothers Richard and George Shea in 1997, it regulates events for safety and keeps records on everything from meatballs to green chiles.

Thai funeral home offers quiet lodging

BANGKOK, Thailand - Cheap and quiet accommodation is available for visitors to Thailand's upcoming international horticultural show, but some may find it too quiet, the lodgings are in the funeral hall of a Buddhist temple.

Three million visitors are expected at the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 which opens Wednesday in the northern city of Chiang Mai and lasts until Jan. 31, the Bangkok Post reported Saturday.

The yellow, five-petaled Ratchaphruek is Thailand's national flower. The event, being held in honor of the country's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, is expected to strain the capacity of the area's numerous hotels and guest houses, so local temples are also throwing their gates open to visitors, the newspaper reported.

At least one temple, Wat Jet Yod, will allow guests to sleep in its funeral hall, where religious rites for the dead are held before the departed is cremated, also on the temple grounds.

The price is a bargain 20 baht ($0.54) per person per night. No alcohol is allowed on the temple grounds and guests must refrain from making noise, the temple's abbot, Phra Kru Baideeka Prasert Santipalo, was quoted saying.

Statue of Dennis the Menace stolen

MONTEREY, Calif. - The mischievous Dennis the Menace has gone missing - except this time, he's not hiding because he broke the rules.

A statue of the perennial pint-sized troublemaker that stood for almost two decades in a city park was unbolted and stolen sometime between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, police said.

Police said the statue, which is 3 feet tall and weighs 125 pounds, is worth as much as $30,000. The city is offering a $5,000 reward for its safe return.

The statue was crafted by Carmel artist Wah Ming Chang. It was commissioned by Hank Ketcham, the cartoon character's creator who died in 2001.

Police aren't sure how the thief or thieves got the bulky statue out of the park but are asking the public for any tips about Dennis' whereabouts.

Gun blast ignites fireworks shop

LAC DU FLAMBEAU, Wis. - A man attempting to rob a fireworks shop fired his shotgun, igniting fireworks and starting a blaze that destroyed the business, authorities said.

No injuries were reported at North American Fireworks, the Vilas County Sheriff's Department said in a statement Saturday. A 20-year-old man was being held in jail after being tracked to a home about 10 miles away.

The owner told deputies a male entered the business Friday wearing a ski mask and armed with a shotgun. He fired indoors, and a shot apparently ignited fireworks, authorities said.

The owner was able to wrestle the shotgun away and remove the man's ski mask, but the suspect fled on an all-terrain vehicle that had been idling outside, deputies said.

The fireworks began to burn out of control, destroying the rest of the building.

Boy takes stolen bus on route

FERN PARK, Fla. - A 15-year-old boy stole a bus, drove it along a public transit route, picked up passengers and collected fares, authorities said Sunday.

Ritchie Calvin Davis was already on probation for taking a tour bus and driving passengers around, authorities said.

In Saturday's incident, he took the bus from the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando, where it was parked awaiting sale at an auction, a Seminole County sheriff's report said. The bus belongs to the Central Florida Transportation Agency, which runs LYNX public transit services in the Orlando area.

"I drove that bus better than most of the LYNX drivers could," the teen, who is too young to drive legally, told a deputy after he was stopped and arrested. "There isn't a scratch on it. I know how to start it, drive it, lower it, raise it."

Passengers and deputies noted Davis drove the bus at normal speeds and made all the appropriate stops on the route. One passenger, suspicious of the youthful looks of the driver, called 911.

The bus had two passengers when deputies stopped it in Fern Park, about 12 miles north of the fairgrounds. Authorities believe Davis picked up a total of three passengers and collected only a few dollars.

He was charged with grand theft auto and driving without a license. A court hearing was scheduled Tuesday to determine whether he will be charged as an adult.

A message left at the home of a man identified as a Davis relative was not immediately returned Sunday.

Woman crashes car after driving test

A US woman completed her driving test - then crashed into the examiners' office.

Jessica Krasek, 20, smashed into the Portage License Bureau office in Indiana, reports the Post-Tribune.

She wasn't hurt when her Ford Taurus car struck the front window of the license branch office.

But a bureau worker suffered a hip injury and was examined by paramedics.

Portage Assistant Fire Chief Mike Bucy said Krasek was pulling into a parking space when she hit the accelerator, instead of the brake.

Susan Williams, manager of the Amazing Travel shop next door, said she thought there had been an explosion.

"We jumped up and we went to the door and saw the car half in and half out of the license bureau," Williams said.

Fire station goes up in flames

A fire chief has told of his embarrassment after a station without a smoke alarm went up in flames.

The building and a fire engine were destroyed in the blaze at Arundel Fire Station in West Sussex.

Neil Odin, southern area commander for West Sussex fire service said it showed it could happen to anyone.

"Unfortunately, we had severe damage to our fire station, which is embarrassing," he told the BBC.

He said a brand new building would need a smoke alarm.

But he added: "Automatic smoke detection wouldn't have made any difference."

Nobody was injured in the fire which was tackled by 30 firefighters in six fire engines from neighbouring towns.

The station is served by retained firefighters, none of whom were in the building at the time.

Toddler gets stuck in vending machine

ANTIGO, Wis. - Three-year-old Robert Moore went fishing for a stuffed replica of Sponge Bob and ended up trapped in a vending machine. The toddler's adventure began with a Saturday evening shopping trip with his grandmother, Fredricka Bierdemann, and three siblings.

Bierdemann ended the trip by giving each child a dollar and telling them to have fun in a retailer's game room.

A stuffed Sponge Bob in a vending machine's bin caught Robert's eye. He tried without success to fish it out with a plastic crane.

"I told him I could get it for him," his grandmother said. "He's a character. He said, 'Oh no, I can get it.'"

When she turned her back to get another dollar for a second try, Robert took off his coat and squeezed through an opening in the machine. He landed in the stuffed animal cube.

"I turned around and looked for him, and he said, 'Oma, I'm in here," Bierdemann said. "I thought I would have a heart attack."

Store employees couldn't find a key to the machine, so Robert waited while the Antigo Fire Department was called.

"He was having a ball in there, hugging all the stuffed animals," Bierdemann said. "He was so good-natured, but I was shaking like a leaf."

Firefighters broke one lock but then spotted two latches inside the plastic cube. They passed a screwdriver to Robert.

"He stacked up all the stuffed animals and used that screwdriver to open the latch," his grandmother said. "You should have seen him go."

Eventually, Robert freed himself. But his mother, Marie Moore, and grandmother said they were lucky that he remained calm when another child might not have. He went home safe - but without a stuffed Sponge Bob.

Smile costs family £3,000 holiday

A family had to scrap a £3,000 holiday after their youngest daughter's passport photograph was rejected - because she was smiling.

Gareth and Lesley Edwards saved for months to go to Cyprus with children Megan, ten, and Alys, nine, reports the Sun.

But the night before they were due to fly out, Lesley, 46, realised she was the only one with a valid passport.

Travel agents booked them on to a flight a few days later and the family quickly filled out passport application forms and had photos taken.

But when he reached the Passport Office, in Peterborough, officials said their machine would not accept Alys's photograph.

Lesley said: "They told Gareth that because Alys's teeth were clearly visible the photograph was not acceptable."

Gareth, 47, got another picture of Alys taken and rushed it to Peterborough from their home in Grays, Essex, but got there too late.

A Home Office spokesman said: "The new biometric passports carry a scan of the holder's face. In this instance the machine which takes the biometric image would have rejected the girl's photo because her mouth was open."

Police find naked man stuck in window

FORREST CITY, Ark. - Authorities say a would-be burglar's plot was foiled when he got stuck - naked - in the window of a house. The man was caught before he could take anything from an apartment he was allegedly trying to rob, Forrest City police said.

Dennis Reed Jr., 19, was arrested Saturday when police found him stuck between an air conditioning unit and a window frame of the apartment, police said. Reed was nude when police found him.

Reed told police that he was forced at gunpoint to break into the apartment by a subject he only knew by his first name.

Officers and emergency personnel initially tried to free Reed, but were unsuccessful. Reed was finally freed after the fire department's rescue squad rescue personnel entered the apartment and removed the air conditioner.

Reed was charged with residential burglary and taken to the St. Francis County jail, police said.

Robbers break into empty bank

A gang of Romanian robbers broke into a bank's headquarters in a daring overnight raid - only to find it empty.

The three criminals expected to hit the jackpot with their raid on the bank in Constanta city centre.

But they did not know that the bank was relocating to new premises and the building was empty.

Police said the gang broke into the building, which had been closed for renovation work, by forcing the main doors.

A police spokesman said: "The robbers thought they would make the hit of their lives but instead broke into an empty building.

"They couldn't find anything to steal, not even some heating pipes they tried to remove from the walls."

The robbers were seen by neighbours when they left the building empty-handed but police couldn't catch them.

Officers said they have taken evidence from the scene and had already drawn up a list of suspects.

Toilet ice rips hole in couple's roof

CHINO, Calif. - An elderly couple believe a chunk of blue ice from the holding tank of an aircraft toilet ripped a hole in their roof and destroyed a bed.

William McElroy was watching a movie with his wife, Evelyn, when the ice crashed into the house Wednesday night.

"It was a huge crash. It shook the whole building, but we thought it was a car," McElroy said. The couple went outside to investigate but found nothing, so they returned to finish watching the movie.

They didn't discover the chunk of ice on the bed and the 2-foot-wide hole in the ceiling until Thursday morning.

"I think we had somebody extra looking over us," Evelyn McElroy said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said Thursday if the offending chunk of ice is from an airplane, then it is likely the cause of a leak in a holding tank of the aircraft's bathroom.

Blue ice occurs when waste leaks from a plane's bathroom onto the outside of the plane and freezes at high altitudes. The liquid begins to thaw as the plane descends, Gregor said.

Man builds haunted house out of balloons

IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. - Instead of clay or wood, sculptor Larry Moss prefers a highly malleable but far less durable material: balloons. Moss typically creates air-filled models of humans, animals and monsters, but his latest piece of performance art is even spookier: a 10-room, 10,000-square-foot, walk-through haunted house made out of 130,000 latex balloons covering everything but the floors and ceilings.

The Balloon Manor and its inhabitants - quirky, hilarious and somewhat creepy Halloween creatures - fill a wing of the Medley Centre mall in this Rochester suburb.

Its "boo-loon" show opened Friday and runs through next weekend. That's about as long as the artwork can last - with periodic infusions of air.

The entrance is a dragon's mouth, complete with a giant uvula that tickles visitors' heads. There's a motorized carousel of galloping insects, dragons and vultures, all ridden by undersized skeletons, and a Model T Ford that looks like it has long ghostly white arms.

In a nearby "beastro," two vampires hang upside down eating off an upturned table, and a ghostly chicken plays the role of "poultry-geist." In the kennel room, cages full of critters are trying to lock horns, claws and fangs through the bars. The crystal ballroom features both flying and disco-dancing skeletons.

The front end of Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis has crashed through one of the walls - interlocking gray and black balloons that make the brightly colored characters stand out even more.

More than 50 balloon artists from across the country and as far away as Japan and Israel helped build the manor, all employing their own styles. A little ventriloquism adds a dash of devilry to the odd-looking crow with the quivering lips being carried around on the arm of Sheree Brown-Rosner, a Long Island photographer whose side job is making "magical balloons."

The tour is expected to draw up to 15,000 people and raise as much as $50,000 for a hospital cancer center and the Teens Living with Cancer support group. Moss' wife, Judy Mathers, was left physically disabled by treatments for Hodgkin's disease after their daughter was born three years ago.

Moss, a 36-year-old New York native, is renowned for his large and technically challenging sculptures. He earned an entry in the Guinness Book of Records when he and fellow artist Ryan Sorell constructed two 40-foot-tall soccer players out of 40,781 balloons in Mol, Belgium, in 2000.

"When you say balloon art, so many people think of dogs and cats," Moss said. "I want to see more people learn how to do this and to build an appreciation for what we do. I want them to know a balloon is my paint brush. If I can visualize it, I can create it."

Because the air eventually seeps out, balloon art has an ephemeral ingredient.

"When this is all over, what's left is a memory, a picture in everybody's minds. Usually when I talk to people later, they talk so expressively about what they saw - different things than I did.

"My background is as a stage entertainer. I like entertaining the audience and creating something for them that they can't necessarily hold in their hands and take away."

Officials probe finger-in-sandwich claim

CHOWCHILLA, Calif. - Health officials are investigating a woman's claim that she found part of a human finger in a Subway sandwich - an allegation reminiscent of the chili bowl finger hoax at a Wendy's restaurant last year.

Two health inspectors visited the Subway restaurant Thursday in Chowchilla after the woman reported finding what appeared to be a half-inch piece of a finger a day earlier, said Jill Yaeger, director of the Madera County Environmental Health Department.

The inspectors did not find any evidence that a restaurant worker had lost part of a finger, and they found no violations of food handling procedures there, Yaeger said. The purported human digit was sent to a laboratory for testing, and the incident was reported to police.

The Subway manager, Anita Munoz, said she was in the restaurant when the woman returned with what she claimed looked like a finger.

"It looked like a thick piece of fat," she told The Fresno Bee. "It doesn't look anything human to me."

Munoz said the incident would be investigated by Subway's national headquarters.

Subway spokesman Kevin Kane said the company was aware of the woman's claim but would not comment until Madera County officials completed their investigation.

"The Subway restaurant chain takes every customer comment seriously," Kane said Friday. "We don't know what the foreign object is yet."

Chowchilla is about 90 miles east of San Jose, where a Las Vegas woman claimed in March 2005 that she bit into a fingertip in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant. Anna Ayala's stomach-turning claim made headlines around the world.

The claim was found to be a hoax and Ayala was sentenced to nine years in prison. Her husband was sentenced to more than 12 years for getting the finger from a co-worker who lost it in a workplace accident.

Wendy's, based in Dublin, Ohio, said it lost $2.5 million in sales because of bad publicity and had to lay off dozens of employees at its Northern California franchises.

Subway, which has more than 26,000 restaurants in 85 countries, is owned by Doctor's Associates Inc., based in Milford, Conn.

Panda bites off part of woman's thumb

BEIJING - A panda cub bit off part of the thumb of an American visitor who was feeding it at a reserve in southwest China, state media said Thursday.

The 50-year-old woman, identified only as Lisa, had registered in the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan province as a volunteer, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

She was wearing gloves and feeding the panda bamboo on Tuesday morning when "suddenly, the panda bit into her thumb," Xinhua said.

"When she cried out, the cub became excited and gripped more tightly," it said. "Lisa finally managed to wrench herself free."

About 20 percent of the thumb had been bitten off, Xinhua said.

A man who answered the telephone at the center's administrative office said it had no comment.

The center has been recruiting volunteers since 2004 for stints that last from one day to more than a month, Zhang Hemin, the center's director, was quoted as saying. They can prepare food, feed pandas under supervision and clear the enclosure with the help of professional keepers, he said.

More than 1,200 volunteers from America, Japan, Switzerland, France and Spain have already worked in the center, Xinhua said.

Last month, a drunken Chinese tourist bit a panda at the Beijing Zoo after the animal attacked him when he jumped into the enclosure and tried to hug it.

Woman finds black widow spider in grapes

HARTFORD, Conn. - Price Chopper removed a brand of black seedless grapes from the shelves at its Newington supermarket Thursday after a woman said she found a poisonous black widow spider.

Sheryl Rosen of Rocky Hill bought a bag of Autumn Royal black seedless grapes on sale Tuesday. It wasn't until Thursday, when she was eating some grapes at work, that she found the spider in the bag.

"I couldn't believe it," said Rosen, who was not injured. "I never thought I'd see a black widow around here."

The spider was taken to the Connecticut Poison Control Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center, where Rosen works, and verified as a black widow.

"Right now, we have it in a jar and we will wait until we hear if anyone is investigating further about the source," said Bernard Sangalli, toxicologist and administrative director of the center.

Though a black widow's venom is not usually fatal to humans, the bite is extremely painful. The spider is best known for a distinctive red hourglass shape on its abdomen.

Mona Golub, Price Chopper spokeswoman, said the grocery chain confirmed the incident and removed the grapes as a precaution. She said they came from California.

Golub called the incident "rare" saying the supermarket chain has had only a few such cases over the past 20 years.

Paul Hutcheon, director of health for the Central Connecticut Health District, cautioned consumers to stay alert.

"I think it's important for consumers to know this is a possibility and to keep your eyes open and look at what you're doing," he said.

Tree limbs form cross on Jesus statue

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Last week's snowstorm in Buffalo brought down countless tree limbs, causing widespread damage to homes and other property. But two large limbs that fell on a statue of Jesus Christ landed in such a way that they formed a cross.

The statue is located behind a former Catholic school in Buffalo.

After the worst of the storm subsided last Friday, neighbor Georgianna Verrastro says she looked out the window and was amazed at what she saw.

Two tree limbs had landed on the right shoulder of the statue, which depicts Jesus with his arms upraised. The limbs caused only minor damage, knocking off the fingers on the statue's right hand.

Video shows the branches leaning against the statue in such a way that it appears Jesus is carrying a wooden cross.

Verrastro told a TV station that her home didn't suffer any damage or lose power during the storm, and she believes the nearby Jesus statue is proof that a higher power was watching over her family last week.

Prize cat does 14-hour disappearing act

NEW YORK - A champion cat was not exactly gracious about his win: He bolted for 14 hours. Evgeny Plushenko, named after the Olympic gold medal-winning Russian figure skater, jumped from a judge's arms after being named best of its breed at the Cat Fanciers' Association Cat annual show. He beat out 200 other felines at the Madison Square Garden event on Sunday.

The "Best in Show" Russian Blue with emerald eyes was found Monday, after 14 hours, huddled in a carpenter's room.

"They love small spaces and can fit themselves into areas that you would not believe could make a cat feel comfortable," the association's Web site explains.

The 15-month-old bolted after one judge handed him to another.

Apparently, this member of a breed - called "clever and extremely agile" by the association - didn't fall for traps baited with the best cat food. Instead, he found a hole in the wall under the stands and slipped into the workroom.

When found, Evgency Plushenko was tired and thirsty, but fine.

His story has a happier ending than that of Vivi, a show dog that bolted from her crate at Kennedy Airport in February after competing at the Westminster Kennel Club show. The beloved whippet is still missing.

Roofer nails testicle to roof

A Austrian workman who slipped while working on a house nailed his own testicle to the roof with a nail gun.

August Voegl, 59, from Jennersdorf, shot the four-inch nail into his left testicle with the compressed air nail gun.

He was unable to extract it or pull himself away from the roof.

Emergency medics were called in to separate the man from the roof after which he was airlifted to a nearby hospital where he is reportedly recovering well after surgery.

Toyshop owner robs bank with water pistol

A struggling Austrian toyshop owner was arrested after he tried to rob a bank with one of his toy guns.

The 44-year-old, from Vienna, stormed into a local bank with a stocking over his head and a gun in his hand, and demanded clerks empty their tills.

But a security guard noticed the 'weapon' was a plastic water pistol and asked him to hand over the toy to avoid "an even bigger embarrassment".

The would-be robber told police: "I was driven to this desperate deed after my toy shop went bankrupt."

Postcard arrvives after 40 years

A postcard sent in 1966 by a student to his parents on the other side of Poland has finally arrived after 40 years.

Zygmunt Kubiczak, the author of the postcard, said: "Since 1966 Poland has gone through martial law and thrown off the communist system, Jan Pawel II has been elected Pope, served his term and passed away.

"I've managed to get married, bring up two children, sail round the world on a boat, survive a serious heart operation and to retire. And all the time, that card was travelling on it's way."

Mr Kubiczak's parents are no longer alive and the postcard was only recovered thanks to helpful neighbours, who sent it on when it arrived at his parent's old address.

Man, 105, seeks wife

A 105-year-old Chinese man has placed lonely hearts adverts in newspapers for a new wife.

Gong Duruo, 105, has placed lonely hearts adverts in newspapers for a new wife /Lu Feng

Gong Duruo, who was born at Chengde, Hebei province, in 1901, wants a wife less than half his age.

Gong, a doctor, said: "First, the woman better have a history of doctor practice or learning literature, since I need assistance to write a medical book.

"Second, the woman should be younger than 50, and can take care of my life."

Gong has two medical degrees - one from the American State University around 1940, the other from the West China University of Medical Sciences in 2000.

He currentlly lives with relatives but told Inner Mongolia Morning Papers he was looking for life partner again.

"Every one should have a goal. Without a goal, people would die very early. That's why scientists always have longevity, like Einstein, since they have life-goals," he said.

Drunk Norwegian breaks into prison

OSLO, Norway - In a different kind of jail break, a very drunk young man surprised prison guards by breaking into their northern Norway jail. "You might say we were a bit perturbed to find this person on our turf," prison warden Geir Broen said on the state radio network NRK on Monday.

Broen said the district prison in the Arctic town of Bodoe is rebuilding its outer fence, and that the man broke through a section of temporary fencing.

The weak fence is of no help to real prisoners seeking a way out, since they are confined within the walls of the jail compound.

The Norwegian, identified only as being in his 20s, was apparently was trying to find his way home after a Friday night party.

"I don't think this guy knew where he was, and he was pretty well under the influence," Broen said on the radio.

When police came to pick up the man to take him home, he told them he thought he was in Moerkved, a neighborhood about 6 miles east of the prison.

"I guess you could say this was notable day in the history of the Bodoe Jail," Broen said. "But I hope we don't have many similar incidents in the future."

Dog saves owner, dies trying to save cat

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. - After a disabled woman's cat started a house fire, her specially trained dog came to the rescue, then died trying to help the cat still in the house. Jamie Hanson said the 13-year-old dog named Jesse brought the phone so she could call 911 and also brought her artificial leg.

"She got me outside and then she heard the cat upstairs and she went up there to get the cat and she wouldn't come back to me," Hanson, 49, said at a news conference Monday at Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center where she was being treated for her injuries.

She received third-degree burns to an arm in the fire Sunday night at her home in the town of Rhine south of Elkhart Lake, the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Department said, adding that both pets died in the fire.

Hanson, who lost a leg in a car accident three years ago, said she was on the couch watching television when the cat ran over the back of the couch.

"And he jumped onto a table that had a candle on it and tipped it over and lighted the artificial plants on fire," she said.

Hanson said she fell off the couch and was unable to get her artificial leg from the table, "so my dog got my leg for me and went and got the phone and brought the phone to me so I could call 911."

She said she tried to put the prosthetic leg on, but it was too hot, and the dog, a golden retriever-German shepherd mix, came to her aid again before going back inside for the cat.

When rescuers arrived, the house was fully engulfed in flames, the sheriff's department said. Hanson was in the doorway and was assisted by a deputy.

Boy, 14, catches piranha - in Stockport

A 14-year-old boy has caught a 3lb South American piranha - in a Stockport pond.

Josh Boyle caught the exotic fish at a beauty spot, Reddish Vale, near his home in Greater Manchester.

Josh, who had been fishing for four hours before landing the piranha, said: "I recognised what it was straight away, so I wrapped it in a towel so it couldn't bite me.

"I was really shocked, but I was excited too - as I have never caught anything like it. I have been fishing since I was two, and I've seen lots of pictures of piranhas before, so I knew what it was."

Josh, who is a member of the Prince Albert Angling Society, landed his catch with just a spinner on his rod, which imitates a small fish.

After taking photos of the fish he released it back into the water, reports the Daily Mail.

Brian Zimmerman, aquarium manager at London Zoo, said: "This is most unusual. It managed to survive until it was caught, but it couldn't have survived the cold winter as the waters it is used to are between 25 and 30 degrees.

"It would have eaten smaller fish such as roach and tench to survive - the red bellied piranhas usually hunt in shoals and attack in a large group. When they are on their own they have to go for smaller prey."

Woman gives birth to own grandchild

A Japanese woman in her 50s has given birth to her own grandchild.

The woman had the baby last year, using an egg from her daughter and sperm from her son-in-law.

It was the first time a woman has acted as a surrogate mother for her daughter in Japan, reports the BBC.

Yahiro Netsu, the head of the Suwa maternity clinic in Nagano, told a news conference the woman agreed to act as a surrogate mother because her daughter was unable to have children due to cancer.

Both the mother and child were reported to be in good health.

Dr Netsu said the woman had first registered the baby as her own and then the child was adopted by her daughter and son-in-law.

The case is set to stir debate in Japan where surrogate births are opposed by the government and a key medical group.

Japan's justice ministry views the woman who gives birth as a child's mother - not the biological mother.

Dr Netsu called on the government and the medical authorities to review their stance.

Death-row prisoner gets pregnant in solitary

HANOI (Reuters) - A death-row inmate held in solitary confinement in Vietnam for almost a year is pregnant and is seeking a pardon to give birth, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

The Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper quoted a police doctor as saying tests in September confirmed that convicted heroin trafficker Nguyen Thi Oanh, 39, was then 11 weeks pregnant.

The report said it was the first time that a death-row prisoner had become pregnant in Vietnam and that police were investigating how it had happened.

Oanh's husband was serving a jail sentence at another prison in another province, the newspaper said.

Oanh was due to face a firing squad this year after losing her appeal against the death sentence she received last year for possession of a billion dong ($63,000) worth of heroin.

Trafficking more than 600 grams of heroin in Vietnam is punishable by death or life imprisonment

Troops battle 10-foot marijuana plants

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet-high marijuana plants.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.

"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

Disney says "non" to Mouse orgy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co. on Thursday said it took "appropriate action" against employees at its Paris theme park who were caught simulating sex while dressed as Disney characters in a digital video that has received wide attention on the Internet.

Man who urinated in soda has shy bladder

DELAND, Fla. - A man who was jailed for urinating in a drink that was consumed by and sickened a convenience store customer could be in trouble again, this time because he can't produce that bodily fluid.

Anthony Mesa, 22, was sentenced to six months in jail and two years of a form of house arrest for urinating in the bottle of Mountain Dew and must also periodically take a urine drug test. Mesa said Wednesday, however, that he has a condition called shy bladder which affects his ability to urinate in public and therefore to take the drug test. He had failed to take a court-ordered test Sept. 19, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

"Anthony's little prank has taught him a great deal, and the irony of it all is that peeing was what got him trouble in the first place, and now not being able to is getting him trouble again," Mesa's mother, Denise Hislop, wrote to court officials.

Mesa has offered to take the test another way, including with a blood sample.

Mesa, a former convenience store clerk at a Pix store in Deltona, pleaded no contest to tampering with a consumer product. A construction worker who purchased the drink he urinated in began vomiting after drinking the product.

Dog back in Calif. after 1,400-mile trek

Kobe the terrier is back with his family after a 1,400-mile trip. The small white pooch vanished from his Bellflower home last month and was found by a stranger in Denton, Texas. A microchip implanted in his neck contained his owner's information.

Man finds £10,000 in McDonald's meal

A Belgian man who ordered a burger from a McDonald's restaurant was amazed to find £10,000 cash in the same bag.

Marco Parra-Martinez, 23, ordered his meal from a McDrive restaurant in Waterloo, reports Het Laatste Nieuws.

Inside the paper bag, as well as his burger, was an envelope containing 15,000 euros, the equivalent of more than £10,000.

"I hesitated one moment, asking myself if I shouldn't keep the money," admitted Mr Parra-Martinez. "But my parents taught me to be honest at all times."

So he returned the envelope to the restaurant.

McDonalds said the cash was restaurant takings that had accidentally been put down next to Mr Parra-Martinez's order. They promised him a reward for his honesty.

Woman tries to sell mummy on eBay

PORT HURON, Mich. - Officials are trying to track down the origins of a mummified human skeleton that a Michigan woman tried to sell on eBay.

The St. Clair County medical examiner's office confiscated the mummified remains Tuesday from the home of Lynn Sterling.

Sterling, 45, told police she got the remains from a friend who works in demolition and said he found them in a Detroit school he helped tear down nearly 30 years ago, police said. She said she had contacted an attorney before posting the remains for sale.

"It's an anatomical, medical-use skeleton," Sterling told The Times Herald of Port Huron. "I would never have put it on (eBay) if I thought it was anything other than an anatomical, medical thing."

Sterling likely won't face charges, Port Huron Police Capt. Don Porrett said, though officials said the remains will be sent to an anthropologist at Michigan State University for further examination.

St. Clair County Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz described the remains as an intact skeleton with mummified tissue. He said age, sex and race could not yet be determined, but said the remains appeared to be those of a child.

"It's very, very old. It's probably some type of anatomical dissection that was part of an anatomy class that over time got into the hands of somebody in the general public," Spitz said.

Port Huron police were notified about the eBay posting by a caller from North Carolina who spotted the item on the online auction site, Porrett said.

EBay spokeswoman Catherine England said the posting was removed Wednesday because it violated a policy against selling human remains. The Web site allows the sale of skeletons for medical use, but not mummified remains.

Curiosity did attract at least one bid before the posting was removed.

"There was a bid on it for $500 from `Satan's Child,'" Porrett said.

Kangaroo sighted on Austrian highway

VIENNA, Austria - A kangaroo was sighted on a highway in western Austria, but disappeared again, police said Thursday. The marsupial, which escaped from an enclosure in the village of Volders about two weeks ago, was seen by several people on a highway in Tyrol province, a statement said.

Thursday's sighting was not the alpine country's first kangaroo-related incident.

In March, a kangaroo led police in southern Austria on a snow chase after it jumped a fence of its cage. In the end, a local veterinarian helped capture the animal using a stun gun. That kangaroo belonged to a breeder in Tyrol.

Authorities could not say whether this month's missing marsupial came from the same place, and declined to provide any details about its origins.

"We're searching through the area intensely at the moment, but we haven't seen the kangaroo yet," Thomas Auer from the highway police in Schoenberg told Austrian broadcaster ORF.

Grandmother mails fruitcakes, sues USPS

WILMINGTON, Del. - Lucille Greene, an 88-year-old grandmother, takes baking and mailing about 30 family recipe fruitcakes as Christmas gifts seriously. Seriously enough that she sued the U.S. Postal Service for emotional distress after alleged rough treatment and accusations of being a terrorist from a postal clerk, according to her federal lawsuit.

In December 2002, Greene showed up at the Magnolia, Del., post office to mail fruitcakes to relatives and friends when, her lawsuit states, a postal worker asked her, "What kind of explosives do you have in here?" before shaking the box.

In the lawsuit, she said others in the post office laughed at her, leaving her upset and in tears. She said she tripped over a concrete parking barrier outside and fell, breaking her glasses and chipping a tooth.

The judge dismissed her allegations two weeks ago, and her appeal for $250,000 compensation, because Greene had a prior eye condition, and contradictory testimony.

But U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson wasn't entirely unsympathetic. She wrote the clerk "was likely being less than courteous" despite following standing procedures for suspicious packages.

Despite having to go to a post office farther away from her home, Greene said she hasn't given up on fruitcakes as Christmas gifts.

"My lawyer got a couple this year," she said.

MA in Robin Hood

A university is offering a masters degree in Robin Hood studies.

Nottingham University will provide the course to students, reports the BBC.

During the one-year course students will work with 15th century manuscripts in looking at the outlaw's place in English society.

The course will also use stories, songs and plays to investigate the medieval world of the Nottingham legend.

The course will start in October next year.

Dr Rob Lutton, medieval history lecturer, said: "The course provides an exciting opportunity for anyone with an interest in the origins and development of England's most enduring legendary figure."

First aider called to his own emergency

A first aider suffering a suspected heart attack received a pager message sending him to his own emergency.

Roger Flux, 66, a volunteer community responder for Hampshire Ambulance Service, had chest pains in bed at his New Forest home.

Roger Flux an emergency first aider with Hampshire Ambulance Service at his home in Ashurst, New Forest, after being scrambled to attend his own suspected heart attack /PA

His wife called 999 as a precaution and paramedics were on the scenes within minutes.

It was then that Mr Flux got a pager message scrambling him to the emergency at his own house.

He said: "I was on call that evening and during the middle of the night I had severe chest pains right across my chest and jaw.

"In a couple of minutes the ambulance crews were here and investigating and in the meantime I asked my wife to get my response bag.

"While I was sitting down my pager went off, telling me to attend to a man with chest pains. Then I looked at the address - it was my own."

By the time cardiac specialists at Southampton General Hospital decided it had been a false alarm, Mr Flux saw the funny side of it.

"At least it shows the system works," he said.

Police find burgers sprinkled with pot

LOS LUNAS, N.M. - Three workers at a Burger King restaurant were arrested after two Isleta tribal police officers discovered that the hamburgers they ordered were sprinkled with marijuana.

The Isleta Police Department officers ate about half of their burgers Sunday before discovering marijuana on the meat. The officers used a field test kit to confirm the substance was pot, then went to a hospital for a medical evaluation.

The three Burger King employees - Justin Armijo, 19; Robert Nuckols, 21; and manager Joseph Ledesma, 33 - were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and aggravated battery on an officer, a felony.

Woman charged with drunk horse riding

CLAYTON, Ga. - Well, that's a DUI of a different color. Heather Darnell, 22, of Mountain City, Ga., faces a drunk driving charge after she steered the horse she was riding onto the highway and tangled with a car, authorities said. Darnell also was cited for entering a traffic lane.

She remains in fair condition after being airlifted to the Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Ga.

The horse apparently survived, officials said.

Three people who were in the Pontiac Bonneville that struck the horse Friday night were treated at Mountain Lakes Medical Center in Clayton, Ga., and released: Ancella Gragg, 32, of Lakemont, Ga., who was at the wheel; and a 13-year-old girl and 9-year-old boy.

Trooper Anthony Coleman said Gragg did not see the horse until too late and was unable to avoid hitting it.

"If it's on the public right-of-way, you're under the same jurisdiction as if you're in a car," Coleman said.

Sat nav system leads driver to sand

An 80-year-old German driver ended up in a pile of sand after following instructions from his new car's satellite navigation system.

Volker Heinmann ignored the diversion signs on the busy A24 near Hamburg when all the other motorists on the road were turning off.

He said: "I thought the navigation system knew a shortcut and it seemed to be a good one, there was no other traffic on the road, so I sped up - and hit a pile of sand in the middle of the road."

The sand had been put on the road by construction workers who were upgrading the section of motorway near Reinbek, Germany.

Police spokesman Jan Kalisch said: "We had a call from the elderly man and found him half a mile along the closed section of road standing with his wife beside the car, that was wedged firmly in the sand. Both were unhurt, but the car had to be towed to a garage."

Scientists discover why toast falls butter side down

Scientists have discovered how to stop your toast landing butter-side down - by spreading it correctly.

A team of researchers from TV show Mythbusters discovered that if you press firmly and quickly with the knife as you spread, the surface of the bread changes.

A dip is created on the toast which then affects the way it falls reports the BBC.

In tests this type of buttering method meant the toast landed butter-side up 29 times out of 50.

Presenters of Mythbusters, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman said: "Just like when a leaf falls from a tree, it will always have a tendency to land with the curved sides up."

Man eats 247 jalapenos to win contest

DALLAS - A 62-year-old retired accountant from Nevada swallowed 247 peppers in eight minutes to win the Jalapeno Eating World Championship at the State Fair of Texas.

Richard LeFevre won $2,000 for prevailing in Sunday's contest, which was sponsored by the International Federation of Competitive Eating.

"I love to eat, and I love to compete, so the two go pretty well together," said LeFevre, the world's eighth-ranked eater according to the federation.

LeFevre, who has also won the fair's World Corny Dog Eating Contest three times, said his winning strategy was to mix three or four peppers in his mouth with a swig of milk before swallowing.

LeFevre was one of four professional eaters who took the top four places in the competition.

Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas said she had never eaten a jalapeno before the contest. Ranked third in the world by the federation, she downed 239 peppers to take second place and $1,000 in prize money.

Christopher Huang, of Arlington, entered the competition even though he doesn't normally eat spicy foods.

"I eat mild salsa," Huang said. "But there's nothing like putting yourself through a lot of pain for no reason."

The 26-year-old required several minutes of recovery time after eating 53 jalapenos.

"I cant feel my face," he said when he was able to speak again.

Dr. Daniel DeMarco, a gastroenterologist and director of endoscopy at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, said the amount of jalapenos consumed in an eating contest is more harmful than the burn.

"It's really pretty stupid," DeMarco said. "Like any sort of abuse of your body, it doesn't make any sense."

He said long-term complications are unlikely, but there are some risks.

"If they get sick, they're going to be vomiting it up, and that can cause esophageal tears," he said.

Inmates flush mattress pieces in toilets

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Monroe County Jail inmates cut up pieces of their mattresses and flushed them down toilets, clogging pipes and causing moderate flooding in the sheriff's department, officials said.

Several pipes backed up Friday night and leaked throughout the sheriff's department, which is located below the jail. Several ceiling tiles were damaged by flooding and the office of Chief Deputy Chuck Wilson incurred heavy damage, officials said.

No damage estimates were immediately available, and there was no immediate word on whether disciplinary action would be taken against the inmates responsible.

The incident is similar to problems at the jail in Vanderburgh County, where inmates have clogged toilets in the past. Six Evansville police detectives sued the local building authority there to fix pipes so they no longer leak sewage when inmates clog the toilets

Man arrested for stealing baking goods

MADISON, Wis. - The Madison Police Department said it has arrested a burglar with a sweet tooth and a penchant for making money. Police said they found the 53-year-old man at Stella's Bakery while they were investigating an ongoing series of thefts there.

The bakery reported thefts of ingredients such as oil, sugar, eggs and flour, and occasionally, the delivery truck.

Police said the suspected burglar took the products to area bakeries in the delivery truck during off-business hours, sold them, and then returned the truck.

The man, from Madison, was arrested Friday night without incident. Police said they caught him stealing bakery goods, while the truck was running outside.

The man was taken to the Dane County Jail and booked on a probation warrant. Police said they would send charges to the District Attorney's office early this week. They said they expect charges will include at least three counts of burglary and operating a motor vehicle without the owner's consent.

Jelly sparks security alert

A pile of jelly left by a road has sparked a major terrorist alert in Germany.

Hikers called the police after spotting the "flabby red, orange and green substance" and fearing it was toxic waste.

The area at Halle, near Leipzig, was sealed while experts trained in biological and chemical warfare and wearing special suits and gas masks moved to examine the substance.

Samples were taken but the mystery was solved before the results were returned after a policeman heard a wedding had taken place a short while before, and questioned the newly married couple.

The groom confessed that there had been a jelly fight the day before and that lots of the jelly had probably ended up on the road.

Hefner prefers dominoes to sex

Playboy millionaire Hugh Hefner says he's bored of sex and would rather have a game of dominoes.

Hefner, 80, is famed for bedding thousands of women and holding bunny-girl parties at his Beverly Hills mansion.

However, he says he no longer has the energy and would rather relax with his bunnies reports The Sun.

He said: "I'm bored of the hanky panky. I'm still active but it's different - I like to play dominoes with my girlfriends."

Hefner once had seven girlfriends - but in 1997 he cut down to three, saying the girls got jealous.

He lives with 26-year-old Holly Madison, 32-year-old Bridget Marquardt and 21-year-old Kendra Wilkinson.

He added: "Having three beautiful women keeps the years off me. I would recommend it to anyone."

Man used snake as car alarm

A Serb man who left a 6ft snake inside his car because he couldn't afford an alarm has been arrested after it escaped.

Radovan Darkic, a pet shop owner from Belgrade, left the snake in his E-Class Mercedes every evening to make sure no one would steal it.

But he was forced to call the police when he found it had slithered its way out through an open window and into the engine compartment. He was arrested by officers for endangering public safety.

He said: "I only wanted to make sure that even if I couldn't take revenge on anyone who dared to rob my car then at least the snake could do it for me."

£2m to find cure for baldness

The Government is spending £2million to find a cure for baldness.

Science minister Lord Sainsbury says he wants the UK to become the world leader in hair restoration.

He is supporting a new treatment called Biotechnology, reports The Sun.

During the treatment the hair cells are grown in a test tube then injected into a bald pate.

He said: "Biotechnology provides a real opportunity to harness the world-class expertise we possess in Britain.

"This initiative should establish British industry as the world leader in this area."

The treatment is being developed by UK firm Intercytex, set up by biochemist Dr Paul Kemp.

He said: "Analysts estimate a good baldness treatment could be worth £1billion a year in Britain and many times that worldwide. The idea is to inject cells into the scalp, where many will develop into new hair follicles.

"Current hair transplant techniques take a long time so they cost a lot. This new procedure would be faster and cheaper."

'Eat a live cockroach, get in free'

A US halloween festival has sparked a row by offering free admission to anyone who eats a live, Madagascar hissing cockroach.

The stunt by the annual Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom's Fright Fest in Louisville has been met with protests of both child and animal cruelty.

Some say it targets poor children and is a form of child abuse, while an animal rights group says it's cruel to cockroaches.

But the amusement park claims to have received only a "minimal number of complaints" and has no intentions of canceling it, said park spokeswoman Carolyn Gaeta McLean.

"People complaining are not going to stop us," she told the Courier-Journal.

The promotion is going on at all Six Flags parks nationwide, though Kentucky Kingdom is the only one to offer free admission, she said. Other parks allow those who eat cockroaches to go to the front of the line.

McLean said each person who wants to eat a cockroach will have to sign a waiver, and children under 18 will need their parent or guardian to sign.

Philip Haming, a father of five children and a former teacher, said children should not be encouraged with a reward for performing a disgusting act.

"We have been teaching them all these years not to give in to peer pressure," he said. "I don't care what adults do."

And Peta spokeswoman Jackie Vergerio asked: "What is it teaching our children? A child who learns to respect a seemingly insignificant insect is a child that will grow up a compassionate person."